It was a grand day in San Diego when BRAVO! was awarded the prize for Best Documentary Feature at the GI Film Festival San Diego. Co-producers Ken and Betty Rodgers were joined by Bravo Skipper Ken Pipes, his wife Sharon and their family Tim, Sandra, and Connor at the festival for an afternoon screening of BRAVO! before a full theater at San Diego’s UltraStar Mission Valley Hazard Center. Hosted by San Diego newsman and celebrity Bob Lawrence, a Q&A session followed the film. The Rodgers and Skipper Pipes were joined on the panel by Bill Rider of American Combat Veterans of War. Bill was with the 1st Battalion 9th Marines at Khe Sanh and has been a great supporter of the film. During the Q&A, Skipper Pipes delivered a stirring speech about war, memory, family and the events at Khe Sanh.

This award would never have happened had not Tim and Sandra Pipes noticed that the film fest was coming up. They gave Skipper Pipes and Sharon a heads-up and we submitted and are grateful that all the work over the years by all the folks who have labored on this film and all the folks who have supported us financially or otherwise has finally found recognition in the film community.

This entire experience couldn’t have been more appropriate, because San Diego County played a significant part in the story of Bravo Company. First of all, every man in the film deployed to Vietnam from there. It is also the home of the Pipes family, some of the men in the film lived in or were stationed in San Diego County after their service in Vietnam and some of the musical sound track was composed and performed there by the late Harry Partch. What a wonderful Welcome Home.

At the G I Film Festival San Diego: Left to right: Tim Lucey, Skipper Ken Pipes, Sharon Pipes, Betty Rodgers. Photo courtesy of Ken Rodgers

The Film Consortium San Diego and KPBS, the local PBS station in San Diego County, in association with the GI Film Festival in Washington, DC, were the folks who put on the festival, and we wish to thank them for allowing BRAVO! a place of honor. Special thanks to Jodi Cilley of the Film Consortium and KPBS’ Claudine Casillas and Carla Conner for all their help.

A lot of old and new friends met us at the event and we had a great time visiting with them before and after the screening.

We enjoyed viewing some fine films concerning a host of topics about veteran and military life. The films were both short and long, documentary and feature.

BRAVO! friend John Giannini, a Vietnam Veteran and a filmmaker, had three films in the festival. His film about his father, ALDO GIANNINI – SERGEANT – UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS 1943-1946, was awarded the prize for Best Documentary Short. Congratulations, John! You can find out more about John and his films here.

You can find out more about the events at the GI Film Festival San Diego here. Concerning the photo gallery, you’ll find BRAVO! folks in the two Sunday albums.

While BRAVO! was screening at the GI Film Festival it was also screening in Emmett, Idaho, as a benefit for Brave Hearts Idaho. Frontier Cinema of Emmett hosted two screenings with all proceeds going to help fund programs for Idaho veterans who are experiencing financial crises. Thanks to Brave Hearts’ Jim Kern, Heather Paredes of the Eagle Field of Honor, and Frontier Cinema’s Roy Dransfield for all their hard work on these screenings. You can find out more about Brave Hearts Idaho here.

BRAVO! will be shown on the campus of Boise State University on Veterans Day, November 11, 2015. The event begins at 6;30 PM in the Jordan Ballroom in the Student Union Building and will be followed by a discussion with a panel of combat veterans. The screening will be part of Boise State University’s Veterans Week celebration. You can find out more about the week’s events here, and we hope to see you there. Parking for this event is free in the Lincoln Parking Garage on the campus. There will be a person at the Lincoln Parking Garage parking kiosk who will give you the parking code or if you would rather get the code from us, please send along an e-mail to the e-mail account associated with this blog.

The award for Best Documentary Feature at the G I Film Festival San Diego. Photo courtesy of Betty Rodgers.

On November 21, 2015, BRAVO! will be screened at the prestigious Ronald Reagan Presidential Library at 40 Presidential Drive, Simi Valley, California, as part of the events surrounding the library’s hosting of the Wall That Heals, a half-scale replica of The Vietnam Memorial. The film and related events in Simi Valley can be found here.

On the movie review front BRAVO! just received a great review from THE BOISE WEEKLY’S George Prentice. You can read George’s piece here.

If you or your organization would like to host a screening of BRAVO! in your town this winter, spring or summer, please contact us immediately.

Last Saturday morning, November 1, 2015, BRAVO! was screened to a standing-room-only audience at the Veterans Association of North County in Oceanside, California. An attentive and enthusiastic crowd of folks both young and old joined us for the event, augmented by cookies and coffee supplied by American Legion Post 146 Women’s Auxiliary.

Thanks to Mike Knudson for dreaming this event and then following the dream to fruition. Donations collected at the door will help the Veterans Association of North County finish refurbishing their impressive facility, a place where thirty-seven veterans’ organizations are housed. We also want to thank Chuck Atkinson and the other folks who run the location for all their support in helping with the screening.

Attending with the Rodgers were Bravo’s Lieutenant Colonel and Mrs. Ken Pipes. When the film was over, Skipper Pipes gave a stirring speech recognizing the sacrifices that veterans of war make. He acknowledged a number of attendees who served with us at Khe Sanh and a number of attendees who worked with Skipper Pipes during his tenure as a reserve officer with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. Helping to make Ken and Sharon Pipes’ day even more memorable, their son, Tim, daughter-in-law, Sandra, and grandson, Connor, also attended. Connor presented his grandmother with a beautiful bouquet of birthday roses, and was later called upon to assist with the raffle drawings.

We are always moved by the heartfelt responses to our film, and this occasion was no different. For example, one young woman approached us and stated that viewing BRAVO! changed her life.

Prior to the Oceanside event, Ken Pipes, Betty and I were interviewed by San Diego’s ABC TV Channel 10 correspondent Bob Lawrence about the Siege of Khe Sanh and the making of BRAVO! You can watch the news clip that was broadcast on Channel 10 on October 31, 2014 here.

Later that evening, the Pipes and Rodgers contingent went to San Diego and attended the White Knights’ Squadron, VMM-165’s (VMM stands for Marine Medium Tiltrotor—V22 Osprey aircraft) Marine Corps Birthday Ball celebrating the 239th birthday of the United States Marine Corps. Lieutenant Colonel and Mrs. Pipes were the guests of honor and once again, the Skipper delivered a stirring keynote speech and received a rousing standing ovation from those several hundred Marines uniformed in their colorful dress blues.